Archives for September 2007

A recent Statistics Canada report that analyzed 2006 immigrant labour market information points to Manitoba and Alberta as the provinces where newcomers most easily settle into the workforce.

Manitoba has one of the best success rates in Canada with respect to immigrants finding work. Even among very recent immigrants, newcomers in Manitoba have among the highest employment rates and lowest unemployment rates in Canada. The Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), under which over 60 per cent of immigrants come to the province, is largely responsible for these favourable employment statistics. To be eligible for most streams of the Manitoba PNP, nominees must have secured a job in the province, which allows them to integrate into the workforce more quickly. It is one of the most successful Provincial Nomination Programs in the country, accounting for 50 per cent of all provincial nominees to Canada in 2006.

With a booming economy, Alberta remains the centre of job creation in Canada. Over the past year, the province has created close to 100,000 jobs, largely in the construction, business, building, support services, and wholesale trade sectors. Alberta’s recent immigrants have benefited from the abundance of job opportunities – their unemployment rate is less than half the national average. Calgary is leading the way as the Canadian city with the highest employment rate among recent immigrants (73.6 per cent). A recent Fraser Institute survey named the province of Alberta as having North America’s best-performing labour market over the past five years, beating out 50 American states and all other Canadian provinces and territories.

Despite this success, there is still work to be done to improve immigrant labour market integration across Canada. Some newcomers are still having difficulty landing their first Canadian job because of language barriers, lack of foreign credential recognition, and lack of Canadian work experience. Soon-to-be Canadian immigrants can prepare themselves for work in Canada by researching the Canadian labour market, learning about required training programs, and enlisting the services of credential assessment organizations in Canada ahead of time. One of the most effective ways to ensure a smooth transition into the Canadian work force is to find work in Canada before landing. Securing employment ahead of time not only ensures a quick integration into the Canadian labour force, it also significantly reduces the amount of time it takes for a Permanent Residency application to be processed.

Approximately one fifth of the Canadian population was born outside the country – one of the highest proportions in the world. As Canada becomes increasingly reliant on immigration for population and labour force growth, successful immigrant labour market integration is becoming ever more crucial.

The recently-signed Agreement for Canada-Nova Scotia Co-operation on Immigration removes the cap on the Nova Scotia Nominee Program (NSNP) as a means to address labour market needs and declining population trends.

So far in 2007, over 300 individuals have been nominated by Nova Scotia for Canadian Permanent Residency, and this number is expected to go beyond the 400 mark by December. Thanks to the new immigration agreement, which removed the existing the cap of 400 nominees per year, it can. Since 2002, the NSNP has been matching skilled immigrants with Nova Scotian employers and fast-tracking their Canadian immigration applications. The success of the program stimulated its recent expansion.

To qualify for the Nova Scotia Nominee Program, applicants must have the intention to settle permanently in Nova Scotia, have sufficient settlement supports to do so, and have legal status in their country of residence. They must also meet the requirements of one of the five streams in the NSNP (Skilled Worker, Family Business Worker, Community Identified, Economic, International Graduate) including the minimum criteria for education, work experience, age, and language ability.

Skilled Worker Stream – An employer-driven stream, applicants must have a full-time permanent job offer from a Nova Scotia employer and have the training and accreditation necessary for the position. Only certain occupations qualify under this stream, as the NSNP seeks to recruit workers with skills in demand by Nova Scotia businesses.

Family Business Worker Stream – Nova Scotia employers can hire close relatives from abroad to fill permanent full-time positions in their family-owned businesses. The nominee must have the necessary qualifications for the job and must have a close family relationship (child, grandchild, sibling, aunt or uncle, niece or nephew) with the business owner or his/her spouse, common-law, or conjugal partner.

Community Identified Stream – Applicants must have strong established connections to a mandated Nova Scotia community organization. A community-driven stream, the applicant must have a Letter of Identification from the nominating organization and have the intention and the ability to contribute to the labour force of that community. To apply under this stream, an individual cannot be eligible for any other NSNP stream.

Economic Stream – Currently the Nova Scotia government is not accepting any new applications under this stream. It will soon be redesigned to nominate experienced business managers and entrepreneurs for immigration to Nova Scotia. Canadavisa.com will report on the changes when they are announced by the provincial government.

International Graduate Stream – Eligible international graduates have graduated from a recognized Nova Scotia post-secondary institution within the past two years. Their certificate, diploma, or degree must be for a program of at least one academic year. The applicant must have been working in his/her field of study for a Nova Scotia employer for at least three months on a Temporary Work Permit and have a permanent full-time job offer from that employer.

September marks the beginning of the school year in Canada; a good time to note the successes of immigrant students and the opportunities for foreign-born students in Canadian educational institutions.

Many immigrant students are outperforming their Canadian-born peers, despite the additional challenges of starting a new life in Canada. During this past academic school year, the top high school students in Ontario’s Toronto Public School Board and Peel District School Board were foreign-born. “Because of Canada’s immigration policy, we are bringing in immigrants with higher education levels than the Canadian-born population. [The children of these immigrants] are highly motivated, very bright kids who come in and, especially in science and math, are often farther ahead than the school they are entering,” explains Jim Cummins of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

As the school year got underway earlier this month, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), the Toronto District School Board, and several settlement agencies teamed up to help newly arrived immigrant youth get a head start as they prepared to enter high school. A pilot program this year, the Newcomer Orientation Week welcomed 250 students to eight schools in Toronto, Peel, and Hamilton. The one-week orientation gave newcomers the chance to learn about their new education system, find out about resources in their school and community, and meet new friends who are also newcomers to Canada.

University-level international students also received a piece of good news this month with the expansion of the Off-Campus Work Permit Program. Since its inception as a pilot project in 2003, the Off-Campus Work Permit Program has only been available to international students at public Canadian universities and colleges. The government of Canada has recently announced a pilot project to expand the program to international students at selected private institutions as well. The project is being implemented on a province-by-province basis, with Alberta and Manitoba as the first provinces to sign on.

Nationally launched in April 2006, the initiative has already benefited over 8,300 international students by giving them Canadian work experience and financial independence. With an Off-Campus Work Permit, international students can work up to 20 hours a week during the school term and full-time during school breaks. To qualify, students must have a valid study permit and have studied full-time for at least six of the previous 12 months in an eligible program of an authorized institution. The students must continue to fulfill the terms of their study permits and must be in satisfactory academic standing.

Canadians went to the polls earlier this month in a series of Federal by-elections marked by controversy. Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand announced that in light of the Canada Elections Act he would not require women wearing burka or veils to show their faces in order verify their identity. Until recently this was not an issue as there was no requirement to present photo identification when voting. However, that changed when Parliament recently passed Bill C-31, which amended the Canada Elections Act to include a new requirement; that voters present photo identification. As a result, the question of how to identify women who wear veils was raised.